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Glite Dictionary
🐛 A marine worm 🐉 A fire-breathing creature
fireworm

fireworm

1 9.6
A brightly colored sea worm with stinging bristles that cause skin irritation if touched
  • noun
  • Specialized
: gusano de fuego
  • The brightly colored fireworm is often found crawling on coral reefs.

Examples

  • On top of the fireworm, I almost got nailed by an extraordinarily attractive and extraordinarily toothy Golden Moray yesterday.

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  • But they were no match for the probable fireworm, no, no.

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  • Are they really bearded fireworms?

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  • Bearded fireworms apparently also have an unfortunate tendency to sneak into people's aquariums.

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  • The white leg-things are furry, not solid, which is why I figure they're bearded fireworms.

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  • The dread Bearded Fireworm lives on the reef, peaceably crawling about munching on coral polyps.

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  • The fireworm's stinging bristles can cause irritation if touched.

  • Many divers avoid getting too close to the fireworm because of its painful sting.

Surface Forms

fireworm singular
fireworms plural

Morphology

fireworm = fire + worm (semi-transparent) = fire + worm

The components 'fire' + 'worm' suggest a worm associated with 'fire' (colour or sting), but the specific biological referent (a brightly coloured marine worm with stinging bristles) is a specialized meaning not fully predictable from the parts.

Etymology

Fireworm is formed from fire and worm, named because the sea animal has bright, 'fire'-like colours and sharp bristles that can sting like a burn. So a fireworm is a marine worm you should avoid touching because it can irritate your skin.